


Taking Care of Burdens

by ImaginationCake



Category: Tales of Symphonia
Genre: Bonding, Gen, Guilt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-24
Updated: 2016-01-24
Packaged: 2018-05-15 20:39:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,018
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5799169
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ImaginationCake/pseuds/ImaginationCake
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Early in the Chosen's journey, Lloyd struggles to prove himself. Especially to that stuck-up bastard Kratos.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Taking Care of Burdens

They left for Ossa Trail when the sun had just begun to color the horizon, tinging it with cool light that promised another clear day. Lloyd shouldered as much of the supplies as he could, eager to prove himself a worthy companion on the journey and maybe showing off a little of his strength to the assembled party.

By the time the sun had reached its zenith, however, Lloyd was panting in the heat and his shoulders protested painfully against the heavy burden they bore. When they stopped to rest he immediately swung the pack onto the ground, letting it flop to the sand with a clatter, and he stretched vigorously, trying to get the knots out of his muscles.

“Why did we even need to bring all this stuff?” he complained, rolling his shoulder.

“All the supplies we brought were necessary,” Kratos said, coming up behind him. “If you need me to carry some of it, I can take on more. It’s too much for you.”

Lloyd bristled at the comment. “No thanks,” he snapped, “I can take care of it.”

Kratos regarded him disbelievingly, but Lloyd ignored him in favor of helping Colette put together sandwiches for everyone.

~

When the group set off again, Lloyd reluctantly picked up the massive pack he seemed to have roped himself into carrying for the rest of the trip. Since his shoulders had been abused all morning, they immediately started to pain him and he despaired at the thought of taking the load all the way until they camped for the night. He opened his mouth to complain again, but before he could speak he caught sight of Kratos out of the corner of his eye. If Lloyd complained, Kratos would just insist on taking over for him, and he’d look foolish in front of everyone. Cursing his bravado, Lloyd shut his mouth tight and readjusted his pack. He could do this. Even if it wrecked his shoulders, he’d show that Kratos guy exactly how stubborn he could be.

~

By the time the group decided to stop for the night, Lloyd’s entire back was a mass of pain. His legs ached from slogging through the sand with all the extra gear he had weighing him down, and his clothing was drenched in sweat from both the scorching sun and the prolonged exertion. He collapsed to the sandy ground, too sore to even try to maneuver the pack off his back, instead choosing to lie on top of it like it was an incredibly lumpy pillow.

“Get up,” Raine said, kicking at his foot a bit. “We have to set up camp now.”

Lloyd groaned.

“Can it wait?” he asked hopefully.

“No. And you need to bathe,” she told him, wrinkling her nose.

Sluggishly Lloyd helped set up the tents, though he was a bit more hindrance than help as his muscles continued to pain him if he so much as lifted his arm. Eventually the whole setup was complete, and while Genis started getting the food going, Lloyd slumped off to the stream they were camped near. He wasn’t really motivated to bathe for cleanliness’s sake, but he thought the feeling of cool water soaking into his bones sounded amazing.

He found a nice spot, close to the campsite but screened by a couple of boulders and some scraggly plant life, then stripped down to his boxers and jumped in the stream. He relished the feeling of the water moving over his skin, carrying away the dirt and sweat of the day and leaving him refreshed. For a while he just let himself float there, gazing up at the twilit sky and holding on to a large rock beneath him so he wouldn’t be carried away by the current. Maybe he would get stronger from carrying that pack around everywhere. Pain was good for strength, right? If he just ignored the discomfort, he’d probably be able to lift tons of weight eventually.

Nodding to himself with resolve, he finished up his cursory rinse and exited the stream. His clothes smelled gross and he wished he’d brought another set. Unfortunately, they were all he had, and he guessed that Raine and Genis would get pissed if he came back still smelling like sweat, so he decided to at least rinse them out and give them the night to dry. It wasn’t until after he’d retrieved his wet clothes from the stream that he began to realize just how cold it was getting now that the sun had begun to dip below the horizon. He glared, shivering, at the dripping fabric he now held, which was now completely useless to him and likely wouldn’t be any drier until the next morning. To make matters worse, his boxers were also still damp, and though the thin fabric was likely to dry out faster than the rest of his clothing, it still didn’t do anything to insulate him. And to top it all off, his muscles were no longer happy to be cold, and instead felt sore and stiff every time a breeze swept by and caused him to shiver.

“Lloyd?” he heard Colette call from over by their campsite. “Dinner is ready!”

“Shit,” he cursed under his breath. How was he supposed to show up to the campsite wearing only underwear? Even though sitting by a fire did sound pretty nice right now...

“Uhh, I’ll be right there!” he shouted back, his voice cracking anxiously. Frantic, he cast about for something, anything, to use as clothing, but of course there was nothing but sand, rocks, and a couple of scrubby bushes. Curse this desert.

Just as he was about to give up and put the wet clothes back on (despite all of his common sense telling him that it would be wet, cold, and uncomfortable), he heard footsteps and saw a figure moving towards him from the campsite. Thinking it was Colette or Raine, Lloyd yelped and jumped behind a boulder, wincing at the sharp rocks beneath his bare feet and the protestation of his muscles at being moved so suddenly.

“Lloyd?”

Oh. It was just Kratos. Lloyd stepped out from behind the boulder, holding his wet clothes in a bundle in front of him and looking at the ground, sheepish.

“What do you want?” Lloyd asked petulantly. He didn’t really like being caught in such an odd situation, especially by this guy who seemed to want to put him down every chance he got.

“I’m just checking to see if you’re all right,” Kratos said.

“I’m fine,” Lloyd insisted. Kratos just watched him silently until Lloyd shifted his weight with nervousness. “I’m kind of cold,” he admitted. That was only partially true; his embarrassment was beginning to heat him up quite nicely.

“Wait here,” Kratos instructed before turning around and heading back to camp. Lloyd made a face at his retreating back and crouched down to try to wring as much water out of his jacket as he could. He hoped that one night would be enough for the thick clothing to dry out, though he supposed that even if it was damp in the morning, the moisture might be nice as the day started to heat up.

He’d gotten his jacket as dry as he was going to and had begun to work on his pants when he heard slight movement behind him. Craning his neck to look back, he caught sight of Kratos, who held a rolled-up blanket in one arm and was staring at him stonily.

“What the hell is that face for?” Lloyd exclaimed, furrowing his brow. “And would it kill you to make a little more noise when you move?”

“Lloyd...” Kratos said slowly. “What did you do to your back?”

“What do you mean...?” Lloyd asked, a little pissed that Kratos had just ignored him. Nonetheless he glanced down to check out his back and his eyes widened at the sight. There were two angry red lines of blisters running over his shoulders and halfway down his back, right where the straps of the pack had been. “Oh,” he said. How had he not noticed that before? Maybe he’d just assumed the pain was part of the general soreness he felt from carrying that stupid pack. His muscles still hurt well enough, which resulted in extreme shakiness as he tried to rise to his feet. He stumbled and nearly fell because of it, but Kratos caught his arm to steady him.

“Did you not notice this earlier?” Kratos questioned, and when Lloyd shook his head, he frowned. “Careless,” he reprimanded tersely. “What if a blister had burst and gotten infected?”

“Why do you always jump to the worst case scenario?” Lloyd grumbled. He yelped as Kratos prodded his back, and he shrank away from the touch. “What is your _problem_?” Of course, _now_ he could feel it. The blisters started to throb with pain, all spreading out from the place where Kratos had touched. Lloyd hissed at the sensation.

“Relax,” Kratos told him, and he placed his hand between Lloyd’s shoulder blades. He muttered a spell and Lloyd felt cool relief wash over his back, taking away the pain from the blisters. Again Lloyd craned his neck to look at what was happening, and he saw all of the red marks had disappeared. “Is that better?” Kratos asked. His voice wasn’t so warm as to be called kind, but was more gentle than Lloyd was used to hearing.

“Y-yeah,” he said, a little thrown off by Kratos’s tone. “Thanks,” he added after a pause.

Kratos handed him the blanket he’d brought from the campsite. “Tomorrow, don’t push yourself so much. I’d hoped to be able to give you some sword training tonight, but you’ll just hurt yourself if I tried now.”

Lloyd looked up sharply. “You were gonna train me?” he asked. That was surprising; he’d thought Kratos couldn’t stand to be around him longer than necessary.

Kratos nodded. “I thought it would be best. Your skills are lacking, as evidenced by your poor performance at the Seal of Fire.”

“H-hey!” Lloyd responded angrily. “That’s....”

“Not fair?” Kratos finished, raising an eyebrow. “You almost endangered the whole group by charging in recklessly like that. Your actions could have caused your friends to be hurt or killed. You have the responsibility of protecting the Chosen of Regeneration, and it’s about time you started acting like it.”

Lloyd had opened his mouth to retort, but his face flushed in shame as he remembered how he had nearly been taken down by the Seal’s guardian. Without Kratos there, he wouldn’t have been strong enough to take down the monster on his own; in fact, Kratos was absolutely right that he would have probably just made things harder for Colette and the rest.

“You don’t have to be such a jerk about it,” Lloyd muttered, embarrassed. “I said I was sorry.”

“Sorry doesn’t mean anything unless you strive to change yourself,” Kratos told him.

Lloyd swallowed his shame and nodded.

Kratos regarded him for a long minute—long enough that Lloyd had time to become aware of how little clothing he was actually wearing. But before he could really track that thought process, Kratos broke eye contact, picking up Lloyd’s wet clothes from the ground.

“Ah, I can carry those...” Lloyd pointed out as a shiver wracked his body. Damn, the desert got cold fast.

“Just cover yourself up. You’ll get sick if you don’t keep warm,” Kratos said, and Lloyd obeyed, shaking the blanket out flat and wrapping it around his shoulders. Unfortunately, his muscles were still sore and he winced a bit from the motion, but he didn’t dare ask Kratos for another round of healing.

He followed Kratos back to camp and joined the other three, who were clustered around the fire eating some combination of roasted meat and vegetables. Colette brightened at his approach, and he smiled and sat down next to her, thanking Kratos when he placed the bundle of wet clothes next to him.

“Wow Lloyd, you made Kratos carry your laundry?” Genis probed with teasing condescension. “Actually, I bet you just fell in the stream and he had to rescue you.”

“Shut up, Genis,” Lloyd retorted. “He offered to carry them. And no, I didn’t fall in the stream!”

Genis rolled his eyes and shoved a couple skewers of food towards Lloyd.

“Well, now that you’re back, we can discuss our plan for the next day,” Raine said, unfolding a piece of parchment on her lap.

Lloyd munched on his food, not really listening as Raine argued with Kratos about the path they should take, then with Genis about food rationing. Colette was quiet next to him. When he finished the food Genis had given him, she handed him the rest of hers.

“Aren’t you gonna eat this?” Lloyd asked her.

“No, I’m sure you need it more,” Colette demurred. “You worked really hard today, Lloyd.”

“Thanks, I guess,” Lloyd replied. “I feel really bad taking food from you though...”

“Don’t worry about it,” she told him, smiling.

Still feeling guilty, Lloyd accepted the food. Now not only had his bullheadedness injured him and caused Kratos to waste energy healing him, but it was making Colette suffer, too. He ducked his head in shame. Maybe he wasn’t cut out to be joining Colette on her journey. If he was just going to make things harder for her and not even be helpful as a swordsman...what did he think he was doing tagging along anyway?

“Hey, are you guys feeling all right?” Lloyd looked up. Genis was standing in front of him and Colette, brows knitted with worry. “It’s not like either of you to be so gloomy,” he mused.

“I’m fine, Genis!” Colette said cheerfully before Lloyd could think too hard about what to say. “And I’m sure Lloyd’s just tired.”

“Ahh, yeah,” Lloyd supplied lamely.

Genis rolled his eyes. “Well I was gonna have Lloyd help me clean up, but you’re practically naked under that blanket. Besides, you’ll probably just make a mess if you’re this tired,” he groused. “You should go to bed early so you’re not so useless tomorrow.”

Lloyd winced. “Sorry, Genis.”

“Don’t worry, Lloyd,” Colette said kindly. “I’ll help Genis for you.”

“But--” Lloyd started. Colette shook her head firmly.

“It’s ok, really,” she told him.

Lloyd nodded after a moment’s hesitation. Though he hated to make anyone do extra work, he didn’t want to get in the way. Reluctantly he picked up his bundle of wet things and slunk off towards the tent he was going to be sharing with Kratos, finding a convenient boulder nearby over which he draped his clothes hopefully to dry in the arid desert air until morning.

Getting into the tent was fine, but when Lloyd lay down on his sleeping roll he hissed in pain. His back ached just as much as before, and now he had to try to fall asleep on the hard ground? Scrunching up his face in displeasure, Lloyd twisted around trying to find a position that didn’t feel like iron brands were being pressed to his back. Eventually he gave up and stretched out on his stomach, the least comfortable sleeping position in Lloyd’s opinion. He sighed in displeasure.

“Some journey, huh,” he muttered to himself.

“Indeed,” Kratos answered, and Lloyd was startled enough that he kicked the side of the tent.

“What the hell?” he snapped, whipping his head around to see Kratos entering the tent, edged in golden firelight. “Why do you keep sneaking up on me like that?”

“I apologize,” Kratos told him, closing the tent flap and sitting down on his own bedroll next to Lloyd’s. Lloyd harumphed and rested his forehead on his arms crossed in front of him.

“I thought you were taking the first watch,” Lloyd said dully.

“I am,” Kratos replied.

“So what are you doing in here?” Lloyd asked, turning his head to squint at the vague shadow next to him. There was a pause that stretched almost but not quite to the awkward stage.

“Lloyd,” Kratos started quietly. “If you’re still in pain, you can tell me. I wouldn’t... I want to help you.”

Lloyd’s eyes widened in the dark. How had Kratos known? “Guess I’m bad at hiding things like that, huh?” he commented, sighing. What _hadn’t_ he been bad at today?

“No, you hide it well,” Kratos told him earnestly. “Perhaps too well. If I could aid you, you shouldn’t hesitate to let me know.”

“A-all right,” Lloyd stuttered. “I just... don’t want to cause any more trouble for you.” He heard Kratos shift in the dark and flinched when he felt Kratos’s fingers brush over the bare skin of his shoulder. The inside of the tent lit up in a soft green glow and Lloyd felt the pain and tension begin to drain out of his back. He sighed softly and his eyes slid shut.

Kratos continued to move his warm hands across the breadth of Lloyd’s shoulders, his fingers weaving relief as they went.

“Hey Kratos?” Lloyd said. Kratos hmm’d a bit in response. “I’m sorry I’ve just been getting in the way.”

Kratos’s hands stilled and the healing stopped. “Why are you apologizing to me?”

“Well, you just seem to think I can do better. And I guess I’m sorry I don’t live up to your expectations.”

Kratos took an audible breath. “Don’t be sorry for my sake, Lloyd. I wouldn’t have offered to train you earlier if I didn’t believe that you have great potential. And I... have faith that you can unlock it.”

Lloyd turned to look at Kratos, but he was a dark silhouette against the side of the tent. “Do you really think that?” he asked.

“Hmm. Now get some rest. We have a long day ahead of us,” Kratos replied, standing up as high as the fabric of the tent would allow him.

Lloyd flipped onto his back and watched Kratos exit into the night while something akin to happiness settled deep in his chest.


End file.
